Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1)

by Mercedes Jade

  Their mother had never been a snob. She had a lot of faults—Keir hadn’t been blind to her gambling, although their father had tried to cover it up—but throwing their family wealth in the faces of others wasn’t her vice. She had raised her boys to be gentlemen that weren’t afraid of honest work.

  Their mother might have done it as a dig at their lawyer father, letting her sons volunteer at the animal rescue and the soup kitchen. Their father couldn't say anything, of course, mindful as always of his reputation and theirs. It would look good on university applications.

  Tess wasn’t a gold-digger. She was different from a lot of the girls at their school, some of whom had flirted with Keir blatantly after they dropped his older brother due to his fall from grace. It had all been about the money for those girls, anyway, and one twin could easily substitute for the other, although technically, Keir was the youngest.

  The only one of their group of friends that might be accused of being less open with Tess about his wealth would be War. It was obvious how Tess might mistake his financial means given that his mother worked as a nurse at the psych and his father lived apart from them. War’s parents were married but they had one of those relationships the ‘super rich’ sometimes employed, where each partner worked and lived worldwide, coming together for special occasions. War’s father actually did drop by on the regular, which having a private jet helped with a lot. War’s six brothers and two sisters needed the room, frankly.

  Keir was glad he wasn’t War. Honestly, from what he had learned about Tess so far, he figured that kind of wealth was going to be a barrier to her. She might be easy going and able to overlook the rest of them as long as they didn’t shove it in her face, but War, he was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

  It wasn’t their fault for being rich but Tess was so poor she needed to be eased into their reality. And if War let that money bomb drop on her, she was going to shy away.

  Unless Tess fell for Ruby, who was really a wonderful mom and woman, then she might give War another chance.

  Keir shrugged away the thoughts of worry about another guy, even if he was one of his best friends, pushing up off the idling SUV he had been letting warm up for Tess. War had to work to get the girl just like the rest of them, and they might be sharing but nobody was going to give a leg up to another guy when Tess was the reward.

  “Hey, Pumpkin-Berry,” Keir greeted. She frowned up at him and he smiled wider at getting the response he expected. “Or do you prefer Berry-Pumpkin?”

  “That is a ridiculous nickname and I refuse to respond to either one of them. Many things can you mix together, but strawberries are a summer fruit and pumpkin is a fall squash. Never should the two meet between.”

  “I don’t know, a little strawberry syrup drizzled over a pumpkin spice latte might be an interesting edge of sweetness,” Keir suggested. “Don’t you like surprises?”

  Most girls enjoyed getting little gifts. Keir knew, having employed his wallet to seduce a few girls when it would be more expedient and he wasn't that serious. He had gone through a period where there was a different girl every week, not that dissimilar from what Bastion had been doing lately, although for much less painful reasons.

  There was probably a time in every guy’s life when he imagined girls coming onto him like he's their dreams come true, and Keir had the means to make that happen. Still, money doesn't buy happiness, triteness aside.

  “Pumpkin and strawberry latte? That sounds disgusting, like a cheap parlour trick to dress up fancy coffee and make it a Halloween treat complete with fake blood. It's something that vampires would drink while speaking in a fake Transylvanian accent and watching a rerun of True Blood on HBO.”

  “That show is vampire porn,” Keir complained, feeling whiny because Tess had made him realize his next idea for a unique drink to try on her wasn’t going to go over well. He was going to have to scrap it.

  Strawberry syrup didn’t belong with nutmeg anyway.

  “I vant to zuk ‘ur vlood,” Kade said, walking up to Tess and grabbing her up against him without a care that they were still on school property.

  Damn piercings made everyone give Kade wide berth. His brother wasn’t even half as scary as Bastion the perfect prince but all the fools around them figured Kade for the dangerous rebel. His brother could get away with smoking a joint on school property as long as he disposed of his butts properly.

  Kade had never smoked a joint in his life before their mother died. Not goody-two-shoes. Kade’s mistake had always been trying to never let their mother down.

  “Kade, somebody might see,” squeaked out Tess, hitting his brother playfully on the chest. Oh, she liked it. Her eyes were sparkling with amusement and she was reaching up one hand to curl her fingers into his brother’s smurfed hair ends, gazing up at him with adoration.

  She was paying so much attention to his brother, and he back to her, that neither of them noticed her kilt was climbing into dangerous territory.

  Fuck, Tess had gorgeous thighs and he was seeing a lot of them.

  “Bad girl,” Keir teased before he gave her barely covered ass a swat and smoothed her skirt down with his big hand copping a feel. She was tight and firm, standing on tiptoes to flirt with his brother. He decided not to move his hand while he waited for her to figure out the situation.

  “What did I do wrong?” Tess asked, looking over at the school and seeing nobody watching them and then wiggling back against his hand on her bottom.

  This was a side to Tess Keir hadn’t expected. She seemed to have a lot of worries on her shoulders and not enough time to laugh. They could all use a little more laughter in their lives and Keir was just the one to bring it out to the surface.

  “You were giving me the same peep show that got you into trouble yesterday,” Keir admitted. “Makes me want to bend you over the hood and do much naughtier things to you than just take a little nip of your neck as my brother threatened.” He shifted closer, sandwiching Tess properly between them so she couldn’t possibly get away. “Say, ‘Keir is hotter, smarter and his eyes are bluer than Kade’s,’ if you want me to let your cute butt get away with a warning.”

  Kade snorted a laugh. “No way, brother mine, the only colour your eyes are changing is green with jealousy,” Kade taunted, tipping Tess’s chin up. “Let me kiss the taste of those lies off your lips before you can say them, Pumpkin,” Kade told her.

  They were both devious tricksters and it looked like Tess was figuring that out. It was natural that they played off their identical appearance when they were younger, which always made people look twice, and as they got older and changed their styles, that deviousness had shown in other ways.

  Keir was having fun. Tess had brought back his brother’s sense of playfulness.

  “You’re so lucky we’re at school and you two are on probation due to the recent detention, otherwise Pumpkin-Berry, I would see how you feel about a twin sandwich,” Keir whispered into her ear.

  “And what exactly are you doing right now, then?” she asked.

  “This is merely a prelude. A true sandwich involves the layers all touching and mixing together to make something really delicious. Maybe Kade’s tongue in your mouth and my hands under your panties and giving you-”

  “Okay, uncle, mercy, whatever, but you win. This is definitely not a school property appropriate activity,” Tess said, cutting him off before he could say anything raunchier.

  “Keir, are your hands on her ass right now?” Kade said, lifting his head to glare at him over Tess’s shoulder.

  He arched an eyebrow back at Kade as if to say, ‘what else did he expect?’

  “Guys, I really am getting cold out here. Despite Keir’s attempts to warm my butt up with his hands, I’m still wearing a skirt out here. Can we get into the nice, toasty car?” Tess asked.

  Keir immediately backed up. “Sorry, that was thoughtless. We really have to get you a proper fitting uniform and you need something warmer than those knee-highs.”r />
  “Yeah, I’ll add it to the ‘niceties but not essentials’ list,” she said, peeling herself off Kade. His brother slid a hand down to her waist and Keir was sure he was tempted to cup her ass, but he acted the gentleman.

  “A proper fitting uniform is essential,” Keir insisted, opening the passenger front door for Tess.

  “I can sit in the back,” she said, looking at Kade. “Not every day that I get chauffeured around. May as well make a show of it.”

  She was being polite and letting Kade sit up front with him. Either that or she was shy about having to sit up front with Keir and then Kade would be behind her. The back seat definitely was the safer choice.

  Kade turned it all around on her. He followed her into the back seat, telling her to move over. Keir closed the passenger front door and walked around to the driver’s side to let himself in.

  “I didn’t turn on the seat warmers back there,” Keir said, quickly amending that oversight. Well, he had expected his brother to ride back there and honestly Keir didn’t think about his brother’s comfort. Kade could take care of himself, but Tess was a girl and Keir wanted to take care of her, provide for her comforts.

  That reminded him of the uniform. All of them had discussed this earlier in the group chat, the one without Pumpkin in it.

  “Look, we want to buy you a proper uniform,” Keir said, backing the car out of their parking spot.

  “You already accepted a kilt from the school so it’s no different than accepting one from us,” Kade was quick to add. Tess must already look like she was going to raise a fuss.

  They had prepared for resistance.

  “Otherwise, Kade’s going to be spending a lot of time in detention defending your pink kitty boxers,” Keir said.

  "I can't let you guys buy me a kilt. The school gave me one that was donated. That is different," Tess said.

  Keir had been too slow to say the next thing they had planned to overcome her resistance.

  "How is it different? Somebody paid for the kilt and donated it for you to use. We can donate a kilt to you. It really is a matter of saving ourselves all the bother of having to deal with any jerks that try to look up your skirt," Keir said.

  "War already had to straighten things out with Drake and Mike on how to behave properly around you. I'm sure he won't mind dealing with other guys, but I don’t know how Ruby will feel about his bruised knuckles," Kade said.

  "Ruby loves Tess. She trusts Tess. I'm sure it will be fine if Tess starts stirring up trouble by getting War into fights. Tough love and all that. He's such a softie that a little schoolyard bullying will do him a lot of good."

  "You guys are being the jerks," Tess muttered.

  "What?" Keir said, although he had heard her fine. The heat in the SUV was whisper quiet and Tess had enough agitation that she couldn't keep her voice that low. She just sounded like she was trying to speak through gritted teeth.

  Their plan must be working.

  "Look, I'm all for your kilt being shorter than most t-shirts hang, but it's really Bastion you have to worry about," Kade said.

  "Why?" Tess gritted out.

  Keir bit back his own response. A laugh would not get them the reaction they wanted from Tess.

  "He has a bit of a reputation," Kade hinted.

  "Jekyll and Hyde," Keir clarified.

  "He's a charmer to the ladies but if anybody treats his princess with less than perfect manners, he drops the gloves," Kade said.

  "Well, not always. He's been known to do a little gentleman boxing," Keir said. "What's that called again?"

  "Fisticuffs?" Kade answered.

  "No, it's something that sounds like a sport instead of hammering the skull of someone that pissed you off," Keir said.

  "It has the word 'cuffs' in it. That can be fancy, like little button cuffs on your shirt," Kade explained.

  "Stop. You guys are impossible. I'll talk to War and to Bastion about this together, later on. I know you're both making some of this up—maybe all of it," Tess said, suspicious.

  "We understated the issue," Kade said. "You're welcome to chat with them, you know."

  Tess sighed. "You guys planned this out, didn't you? It feels like a trap."

  "If you weren't so stubborn and prideful," Keir said.

  "Independent," Tess returned.

  "Willful," Kade said.

  "Spitfire," Keir said.

  "Hey, like you guys are complete angels," Tess challenged.

  "We used to have that reputation," Keir said, not really thinking about it. They were referred to as little angels or little devils depending on what they had done to the person naming them at the moment. Usually, it was the latter.

  "If I accept this donation of a school kilt from you guys, what do I get out of it?" Tess asked, surprising Keir.

  They had prepared for a lot of responses, but asking them for a bribe hadn't been one of them. "Uh, you get a kilt that won't flash your panties every time you cough."

  "First of all, that's not how coughing works. I suppose, using your logic, a longer kilt is protection for when I have to reach up and scratch my head or bend over and pick up my backpack."

  "Okay, so you can scratch your pits or bend over without worry of indecent exposure," Keir agreed.

  "That is not what I said," Tess muttered with the gritted teeth again.

  "Sorry, hard to hear you over the noise of the heater," Keir lied.

  Kade laughed. "Don't bother fighting the little battles with my brother or he'll tire you out so you lose the war as well."

  How nice of Kade to share Keir’s strategy of winning arguments. No matter, it already seemed that they had won this one with Tess and that was what mattered at the moment. Bastion would be pleased, especially since he had bet them that they couldn't get Tess to agree on their own.

  "I can't believe we're fighting over an ugly plaid skirt," Tess said.

  "We're just trying to protect your dignity and person," Kade said, sounding stodgy as their father presenting a case.

  "Oh, well then. I do so humbly accept your kind gesture," Tess said. Keir watched in the rearview mirror as she held her hand up to Kade and he gave her a sweet kiss on the back of it.

  "Hey, no kissing before tutoring," Keir complained.

  "Stop front-seat advising," Kade said. "Keep your eyes on the road."

  "We're almost at the hospital," Tess said.

  "Keir can park and keep the car running so you don't get cold, Pumpkin," Kade said.

  How did Keir get talked into driving his brother around while he made out with their girl in the back? Suddenly, he was feeling tricked himself.

  Kade was kissing her already. He was pushing a bit harder than yesterday, mouth fastened over Tess's more thoroughly and no doubt giving her a deeper kiss than their playful taste yesterday. His hand was cupping her jaw and face, thumb brushing the skin near her cheek as he probably encouraged her to open wide and explored all the delicious honey Keir had yet to experience.

  Then she moaned. It was definitely a female moan. A bit breathy and pitched higher with pleasure in every throaty sound.

  Keir cranked the wheel a little too hard to pull into the driveway for the hospital.

  As soon as I park, I'm taking off my seatbelt and crawling back there," Keir said.

  "No room," Kade said, pulling away from Tess's lips for a moment.

  "Make room," Keir bit out, feeling a bit wound up himself.

  "How about I take off Tess's seatbelt and sit her on my lap so you can reach her from the front?" Kade proposed.

  Keir took a few seconds to think of the logistics while he parked. He slid the gear shift into park and unseatbelted himself at the same time he heard Tess's seatbelt click open. By the time he turned around, Kade had both his hands cradling her ass over her kilt and straddled her on top of his lap. They were locking lips again and Tess was moaning more.

  His brother was a much quicker player than Keir had ever realized. It wasn't the first time either of them
had made out in front of the other, although any other time they each had their own girl and it usually was during a party or somewhere where a few people were making out, and also usually, clothes mostly stayed on.

  Not always though. In fact, Kade had lost his virginity first and Keir had seen him doing two girls at once in one crazy frat party at the college they had both snuck into for Kade's girlfriend at the time. She had group sex fantasies and liked older boys, and Kade had indulged her, not even protesting when his girlfriend had eventually stripped her top off and let some college guy feel her up in front of him.

  They had all been drinking except for Kade. He watched cold-stone sober and didn't say a word until the next day when Keir heard he had broken up with her.

  It might have seemed like a double standard but Kade had said that she was happier with the other guy and Kade had known they weren't meant to stay together because he hadn't really cared, hadn't gotten angry or sad.

  Keir wasn't sure if that was the truth or a lie to soothe the girl that broke up with him. His brother was nice enough to be a dick if it would have made it easier for the girl to do what she really wanted.

  Maybe the drama of a breakup had been her goal. Keir didn't know, didn't care at the fucking moment. He forced the stupid, old memory out of his head and focused on the sexy girl in front of them that had agreed to be both of theirs, openly.

  "Can I feel your breasts?" Keir asked as he came up behind her. The middle console was in an awkward position, but he managed to get turned around and straddled both front seats. His hands rested at her hips as he waited for her response.

  She didn't break from her kiss with Kade, moaning again as she pulled her shirt up with her own hands.

  Keir reached forward and slowly trailed his hands up her sides, tracing his fingers over the lacy bottom edge of her bra. He was hard as rock and he hadn't even gotten the handful he wanted yet.

  "Let Keir have a turn," Kade whispered as he broke his kiss with Tess.

  She twisted to look behind herself at his direction, only able to partly face him. Kade’s hands replaced his on her hips to hold her steady as Keir leaned forward and kissed the side of her mouth. His hands had shifted up, playing with her bra cups as he finally got his hands full of her generous breasts. The cups were lacy with a little padding, just enough that he couldn’t get a good feel of her nipples.